


Stumbling Blocks on the Road to Your Dreams

by Lazchan



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, kid yuuri
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 04:38:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9862922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lazchan/pseuds/Lazchan
Summary: Minako and Yuuri have a talk about what other things he needs to learn in the skating world.





	

Minako had a way of surprising Yuuri; she could make a comment when he least expected it and today was no exception. He was in her studio, legs spread in a full stretch and her leaning casually on his back to make sure he stretched himself to the utmost.

"So you're decided that you're going to commit to ice skating," she said cheerfully, ignoring his groan when he managed to flatten himself against the floor. He held it for a space of ten seconds before she let him sit up, breathing and then doing it all over again. _How can she think that I can reply when I can't breathe?_ He sat up again and leaned back, pausing her movements. Was she angry that he decided to do ice skating instead of dance?

He rubbed at his nose and took a deep breath, moving his legs together and rubbing the soreness out of them. "… I really think…" he bit his lip. "I really want to do it," he tried to keep his voice firm.

"Oh, I don’t doubt that you're going to be a world-class skater," she shrugged his worries away, ruffling his hair. "There are a few extra lessons besides your dance and skating that we have to work on, thought." Her tone turned more serious and Yuuri blinked at her, wondering what else would be involved. He already knew there was going to be a lot of training, more dance, ice skating—figure skating lessons… it was going to be a lot of work, but it would be worth it.

"You have to learn English," she said bluntly, "and more than what you just learn in school."

He stared at her; that was one of the last things that he had expected to hear from her. "English?" he frowned, confused. "Why would I need to learn English?"

She thwacked him on the head lightly. "How else are you going to communicate with other skaters, Yuuri?" she scolded. "You can't just go out onto the ice, skate and then go back to your room. You have to talk to your coach and what if they don't speak Japanese, hm?" she asked. "Some of the best coaches are from Russia or France—and English will be easier than trying to learn Russian, I promise you."

"I…" he pressed his hands together, biting his lip in worry. To avoid looking at her face, he did another full stretch, remembering to breathe deeply this time. "I didn't think I'd get out of Japan," he whispered. It was one thing to want to be a competitive skater, it was another to think that he could beat other skaters that had been doing this for so much longer.

"Yuuri," she pulled him out of the stretch and wrapped her arms around him. "Why are you doing this if you don't think you'll do well?" she asked. "You already are an amazing dancer," she reassured him. "I wouldn't be mad if you changed your mind again and went back to doing just dance."

"No!" His voice was fierce and his head shot up. He didn’t want to stop skating, no matter what his thoughts were. "I just---" he felt his heart stutter in his chest for a moment. "I … I never thought about leaving Japan before. Do… do you think I really have a chance at it?" He had watched the competitions and old programs, studying them with an intensity he had only given to dance before. Figure skaters danced and flew on the ice. They made music with their steps and seemed to float on their blades. He wanted to do that, more than anything; it was like fate was tugging at him.

"I wouldn't be encouraging you if I didn't think you could do it," she said firmly. "Now, have I ever led you down the wrong path?" she asked. "Have I ever let you believe you could do something you couldn't?"

He shook his head slowly. Minako-sensei wasn't one to be overly free with praise; you earned what she gave you, but she was unstinting with encouragement.

"Then listen to me now," she said, gripping his shoulders and staring straight into his eyes. "You, Katsuki Yuuri, will show the world your skating."

He gave her a shy smile in response to her confidence in him, but uncertainty gnawed at him again. "I don't know how I can fit English classes in with regular school and ice skating and dancing…" he winced a little at the thought of the load. It was all worth it, it really was, but he also didn't want to break himself before he could go anywhere.

She laughed and stood up straight, pulling him with her. "You will be getting English lessons from me," she gave him a wicked grin. "While we stretch, while we dance—the moment you come in the door, we'll be working on your English."

He was almost dismayed at the idea of it all; English wasn't a difficult language to learn, not really—he had fun with it and the foreign teachers that came to help them with their everyday English. He knew from what he heard from the teachers and from what he learned in the books, that English-overseas and English-from-Japan were two different things altogether.

"Can you teach me that sort of English?" he asked doubtfully. "How did you learn it?"

"I traveled the world, Yuuri," she said lightly, positioning him at the barre and he automatically went into the positions that had become habit, stretching his body to the fullest, his leg almost parallel to his body, every moment as precise as possible, his body steady. "I had to learn to speak English; my coach didn’t speak a word of Japanese and the competitions overseas were held in English with a passing nod to other languages."

He turned his head without changing the line of his body , staring at her in shock. He hadn't ever had any idea. His look grew less uncertain and the smile wider. Maybe; just maybe—he had a chance with this sort of thing.

She ruffled his hair. "We'll start soon," she said briskly. "The earlier you start, the faster you'll get it. I know cram school is a pain and the English you get taught in school isn't going to get you far." Her look was reassuring. "We'll make as much a part of your dance as skating is; for each term we use, you'll learn the English, for each greeting we make—" she raised an eyebrow.

"I'll learn the English," he said; catching onto her hint and saying it in slow, careful English and looking to her for approval as he switched positions and worked on stretching the other leg.

"That's my boy," she encouraged him. "It'll come easier than you think, with something to shoot for, you'll master it in no time at all."

He didn't have the level of confidence that she had in him, but he thought about the skating programs; the commentators that gave scores, the awards ceremonies; all were in English with the Japanese scrolling across the bottom of the screen. _I won't have that visual when I'm actually there_ , he reminded himself.

He thought about talking to the other skaters and his cheeks warmed when he thought about talking to Viktor in English. Surely; there would be a chance that their paths would cross at some point in the future.

Minako saw the excitement fill his expression and she laughed. "Alright, we won't start today, I have to think about how we should go about this and I'll also talk to that English teacher of yours to see how much you know. You'll want to hear how that American talks outside of a classroom." She made a face. "None of this 'I'm fine, thank you' talk."

"You mean, they don't talk like that there?" He kept his face as innocent as he could, stretching out in an arabesque and training his eyes on the mirror and watching her expression through the reflection.

She opened her mouth to reply, caught the hint of a smile on his face and she burst out laughing. "Oh, this is going to be fun," she grinned widely. "I can't wait."

Yuuri nodded and stared at his reflection, of the images that bounced back from the mirrors on the other wall. He had come a long way with Minako-sensei teaching him; he was confident in the way he moved on the floor. Now—to move the same way on ice skates; to move the same way with people and with speaking another language.

It was just another step on the road to his dream of skating in the same arenas, on the same ice as Viktor Nikiforov. He daydreamed about his first words with him as he moved into the hold he'd use for a camel spin, Minako guiding his legs as she chattered on about this and that, peppering in English when she saw his attention wandering.

First words were important and Yuuri would make sure that it would be memorable. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a little fluff of a fic for kid!Yuuri. Unless you go to a really good school in Japan and/or cram school, the English you learn isn't going to the greatest. Yuuri ends up going to school and college in Detroit; conversing quite easily with other skaters and people in English, so he had to start somewhere and probably studied for as long and hard as anything else.


End file.
